BIRMINGHAM, Alabama -- Paula Wood usually has to go to the grocery store or a farm stand near her house to load up on fresh fruits and vegetables.

But on a recent morning, Wood filled a bag in the atrium of UAB Hospital with locally grown squash, plump blueberries and a fat cantaloupe, then headed back upstairs to her office at the Department of Medicine.

"It's awesome," she said. "For me, the produce at the grocery store is not that good. This is delicious and it's really convenient."

Wood was shopping at A New Leaf Farm Stand, which appears on the University of Alabama at Birmingham campus each weekday and is part of the university's efforts to keep its 17,000 employees healthy.

Since it opened at the end of April, hundreds of people -- doctors, nurses, patients, university professors, administrators, students and visitors -- have stocked up on the fresh produce that Ellen Ruoff Riley brings. The display on the burlap-covered tables she sets up is hard to resist: sweet corn piled in a red wagon; wicker baskets of green beans, cucumbers and tomatoes; shiny baby eggplant and giant bunches of greens with the turnips still attached.

"It's really become a huge hit," said Lauren Whitt, UAB's employee wellness coordinator. "It's been wildly popular on the hospital campus and on the main university campus as well. We see it as a win-win."

The farm stand, which is organized and run by Riley, a former garden editor for Southern Living who most recently ran the Oak Street Market in Mountain Brook, isn't the only new thing on campus. On the second floor of the hospital's West Pavilion, Whitt is testing out a vending machine that offers only healthy snacks like whole-grain crackers, energy bars and Sobe Lifewater -- a contrast to the Moon Pies, chips and sodas in the next machines over.

The hospital also debuts its first farm market on Friday. Local farmers will sell their wares outside under the North Pavilion at the intersection of 18th Street and Sixth Avenue South from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. each Friday. On those days, the hospital cafeteria will also highlight dishes made from produce provided by those farmers, said Jordan de Moss, assistant vice president at UAB Hospital.

He said the goal is to provide healthier options for hospital employees -- especially since many work long or unusual shifts and don't have time to grocery shop -- and patients or their families who may not have access to affordable, healthy food closer to home.

Riley had the same idea after visiting the Kirklin Clinic.

"I thought, there's a huge population here and there's nothing to eat," Riley said as she bagged okra, potatoes and pink-eyed peas. "These employees need access to good food and healthy things."

Although business is booming, she hopes to do more than just sell produce. She encourages shoppers to try new ways to cook the food -- stewing okra, for example, instead of frying it -- and hands out new things to try, like a handful of eggplant for a customer who's never had it. Soon, she'll have recipe cards on hand, plus a team of student interns who will dole out health information with the produce.

"Our employees take so much time taking care of everybody else," said Whitt. "This gives them a chance to take care of themselves and their families."